NFL Sunday Ticket is drawing heat from fans over a problem that keeps biting into the viewing experience: bonus coverage.
The package, now part of YouTube TV after previously living on DirecTV, has long given out-of-market fans access to their teams and the rest of the Sunday slate outside their local broadcasts. But this season, viewers have been running into a recurring issue when one local game spills over and pushes into the next window.
That’s what happens when a broadcast goes into “bonus coverage” at the end of the 1 p.m. E.T. window and the beginning of the 4 p.m.
E.T. window. If the earlier game technically hasn’t ended yet, the start of the later one can be blacked out.
Last week, that meant the Commanders vs. Giants game ran long and Fox stations in the New York and Washington areas missed the opening of the NFL’s Game of the Week between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has been among the loudest voices calling it out. On his show Monday, he said, “This whole ‘bonus coverage’ thing keeps people from seeing all of the key game in the late afternoon window,” Florio said on his show on Monday.
“It specifically keeps people who bought Sunday Ticket - this is what’s amazing to me, because I’ve got Sunday Ticket. I’ve got Sunday Ticket primarily so I can go to the DVR on YouTube TV whenever I want and watch all of the games throughout the week.
So, alright, 49ers-Seahawks let’s go. ‘Wait, where’s the rest of it?
It’s 4:47 left in the first quarter. Where’s the game?’”
Fans are paying roughly $400 per season for Sunday Ticket, and the frustration has only gotten louder. Florio argued the problem should be fixable in an era of advanced technology.
“This is 2026 the last I checked. We’ve got artificial, we’ve got super intelligence.
There has to be a way to lift the blackout, so that people who have paid their $400 because they have no choice but to pay for the whole season, to watch all of the games that aren’t on in their market,” Florio added. “If there’s a game that’s happening that’s not on in their market, then they should be able to watch the first 10-plus minutes of the first quarter on Sunday Ticket.
And I know the NFL’s got plenty of stuff going on as it relates to antitrust challenges directed at Sunday Ticket. This is another one waiting to happen.
I paid my $400. Why can’t I watch the first 10 minutes of Seahawks-49ers?
We don’t know what’s going to happen in those first 10 minutes. It could have been the greatest first 10 minutes of a game in NFL history, and you’d never get to see it.
It’s inexplicable that this would happen.”
Fans have been just as blunt about the issue. “It’s the worst thing in sports!
Thank you for shining some light on this. NOBODY GIVES A (expletive) ABOUT NYG AND WASHINGTON,” one fan wrote.
“Fans should be demanding partial refunds,” another fan added on X. One fan pointed out that the DirecTV era handled it differently: “Back when Sunday Ticket was on DirecTV they would know if you’re TV market was in bonus coverage and this type of thing did not happen,” one fan added.
Another said, “Yes!! Missing the start of the Game of the Week to show the OT of two mid teams is ridiculous,” one fan added.
For now, though, the complaint keeps coming back to the same place: fans want the blackout issue fixed, and they want it fixed soon.
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